On Saturday September 29, the Sahuaro High School Marching Band had a competition at Sabino High School. This year, the marching band show is entitled, Alice, and it has music from Alice in Wonderland. The drum majors, (the people who conduct the marching band) are junior, Jacob Garcia, and senior, Sean Pierce. Jacob conducts the first two movements of the show; Ah-Ha and Hide and Seek. Sean conducts the last movement, White Rabbit, in which Sean is the White Rabbit.

Going into this year’s first competition, the marching band felt much more confident as a whole, than in years past. The band director, Ms. Engel, had the band do one full run of the show during a rehearsal and that was all, because of the confidence we displayed during that one run.

Walking up the track, waiting to get on the field is the most nerve- racking and stressful time during the competition. We had to go quickly to put the props on the field since there is a time limit of 15 minutes. The band got all the props on the field in about a minute and a half and each member had to go to where they were supposed to be for the start of the show after getting the props on the field. The judges took such a long time before they were ready for the band. so they had to stay set for much longer than they have ever had to before. As soon as that first note hit, the band was really locked in and focused and sounded much more prepared than they ever have in my four years of being in the band. “That was the first time I played my solo perfectly,” Parker Shupe said. After the performance the band was all smiles. The band felt very good about their performance, and any mistakes they had, they laughed about but knew where to focus during the next week of practices.

After the last band performs, it’s time for awards. Another stress inducing time as the band has to wait to hear if the judges believe the band performed as well as the band felt they performed. Sahuaro is in the division with the smaller bands. Sahuaro competes against Pueblo, Coolidge, Pusch Ridge, Florence, and Catalina. When the last place band was announced and it wasn’t Sahuaro, the whole band took a sigh of relief. The fifth place was announced, and it still wasn’t Sahuaro. When the band found out they were top three, the whole band shouted. The band ended up getting second place which made them very happy and have a great sense of pride.

The marching band still has four more competitions. The two biggest competitions are UofA Band Day in two weeks and Championships on November 10 in Phoenix. The band has a lot of room to grow, but where they are now, is much better than where they have been in previous years.